LOTS TO TELL YOU TODAY

Today is Monday, August 6th.  I have a lot to talk about since my last post.  I will start by telling you that I had the privilege of having lunch with my beautiful granddaughter, Courtney, on her 21st birthday.  The lunch was shared with Tracey, Carter, Bobbie Wiseman (Courtney's other grandmother) and we were seated at a round table (best for conversation) and had a great lunch and enjoyed celebrating this milestone in the life of a very wonderful woman.  I am very proud of Courtney.  She will go back to U.T. in Knoxville next week to begin her Junior year.  It will be a short time in my life - and her life - until I will go to the school to watch her accept her degree.  It will be a happy day for my entire family. 

My health has been a little uncomfortable for quite some time and I really have not felt like doing much.  Finally, an ENT doctor diagnosed me with Vertigo or Inner Ear problem and with the help of a very aggressive Physician's Assistant (Nita and I call her Ms. Witch) I have some therapy exercises that I must do every three days for six weeks.  I, also, have to sleep on my right side because the left ear seems to be the one that is causing all the trouble.  Also, it helps to sleep on several pillows rather than flat down on the bed. All of this is to keep me from being dizzy, nauseous and, just in general feeling lousy.  I will be going back this week for some sort of test and to report if what I have been doing is working for me.  I think it is working and I shall keep up the crazy exercises until the six weeks are up.  I have not been told to stop driving because the doctor says that I will know when I am getting dizzy and surely will have sense enough to not drive in that condition.  That was the only question I had for him "can I drive?"  I don't drive at night any more anyway because of my eyes so I do need to run errands in the day time.  My gosh, getting old is the pits!  I have given up a lot of my committees, volunteer work and kept what I thought I could do without pushing myself beyond my endurance but now I seem to get bored.  Oh well, I will work all of this out and come to a good balance for my life.

I did go to a Retirement Party for Randy Noe at Lee Company last week.  Randy was the guy at the company that kept the cars and trucks running in the "old days" at Lee.  In later years they have had mechanical work done elsewhere but Randy still had the job of keeping up with when licenses were due and when the fleet needed to be enlarged or changed in any way.  He is a great guy.  Some of the people at the company didn't like him because he was so outspoken but I appreciated his honesty and so did the owners of the company.  He and I became great friends.  When Billy and I fell upon hard times back in the 70's, Randy kept our car in good repair so that we would not have to buy a vehicle when we couldn't afford it.  He worked miracles on that old Buick.  His party was attended by many people from the "old days" and each one had a tale to tell about Randy.  There are people that God puts into your life for a reason and Randy was put into mine for me to have a good, helpful friend and I will love him forever. It was a delight to come into the Lee Company building and spend time with Wallace Lee and Ted Lee, the two men I worked with for 20 years.  Wallace is now 81 years old and very frail.  He was a big, strong, man and it seems so sad to see him as he is now but his sharp mind and his wit is still there and we had a great time.  Ted, the younger brother, looks wonderful and is enjoying life to the fullest.  What a good time I had at the party.  I might add that I received lots of compliments, hugs, and kind words from people that I will always hold dear to my heart.

Wayne and Jacque invited Sara and I to go to Pigeon Forge this past Friday.  We arrived at our hotel which was the Christmas Inn and it was just that -  Christmas all the way.  The outside was decorated for Christmas and every square foot of the inside had wreaths, holly, lights, trees with ornaments, Santa and reindeer and elves and I immediately got the "spirit of Christmas".  Sara and I had a beautiful room that had a Christmas tree with lights and we also had a balcony on which to enjoy our morning coffee.  We saw a show called Smokey Mountain Opry and it was a delightful production with singing, dancing, beautiful stage sets and music of every genre.  On Saturday morning we were treated to the Blackwood Brothers Show of which my grandson, Brad Smith, is the bass singer, MC of the show and was featured in many of the songs.  This was a breakfast show and the food was very good.  The show was the best that you can find anywhere.  The costumes, the songs, the humor - everything was just perfect.  We spent the rest of the day shopping and looking and enjoying the city.  Our dinner was enjoyed at an Italian restaurant where I dined on chicken fettuccine that was out of this world.  After the meal we visited Brad and Cassie and their son, Jackson, in their home and had delightful conversation plus cheese cake and coffee.  All too soon it was Sunday morning and after breakfast at the Apple Barn (always a wonderful experience) we came home.  I was glad to see Houston and I do think he was glad to see me even though he had spent the week-end with Corinne and Mark and their dog, Fisher, and been spoiled shamefullly.

August 6th will always be a memorable day for me and the girls because that is the day that Billy left us for a new home.  He died 14 years ago today after a long battle with cancer. I just pray that if that horrible disease ever attacks me that I will be able to handle it with the grace and dignity that he did.  He never gave up  living his life even though he knew it was coming to an end.  He loved me and he loved his family and his friends and tried to participate in each of our lives until he had no more strength.  He was an inspiration to a lot of people who have had cancer.  I think it is sad that he didn't get to observe all of the lives of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  He would have loved to watch Carter play baseball and his team win the State Tournament since baseball was the Cline Sport of Choice in his family.  I feel confident that he would have been watching all of the children perform whatever talent they were displaying and loving every minute of it.  Maybe where he is he knows and is smiling on all of us as we live our lives without him.  I had him for 46 years, starting out in high school and going through a full life with all of it's ups and downs and laughs and tears.  I wouldn't change anything.  God was good to us - all the time.